What an awful day in football. The Steelers lost, the Ravens won, the Patriots won… blah.

I’m told that the Steelers still clinched a playoff spot today with Jacksonville’s loss, but I’ve been wrong about that before. Whatev, jump for the recap.

FIRST QUARTER

Brad Smith returns the opening kickoff for a touchdown.

7-0. Sorry for profanity but I’m too lazy to MS-Paint the things I find on Google Images.

The Steelers punt. LeBeau is dialing up all kinds of blitzes to throw off Sanchez early.

Isaac Redman runs behind a great Flozell Adams block for a conversion on 3rd & 2. The drives runs out of gas after that and Kapinos’ crappy punt comes back out past the 20.

Bryant McFadden continues his dominance in the field of playing way off the line of scrimmage and letting his man catch a mid-level pass. The Jets’ offense runs a balanced attack but the Steelers shut it down before they get into field goal range. They punt to the 2.

SECOND QUARTER

Hines makes his obligatory Hines-catch. Emmanuel Sanders is making a living out of tough catches on 3rd down. Hines Ward converts a big 3rd & 17. Ben finds Matt Spaeth at the goal line.

7-7. It wasn’t as snowy as this picture makes it look.

Suisham booms a kick all the way to the 20. Braylon Edwards makes probably his first catch of the season down the sideline against Bryant McFadden. Pretty tough play to defend. Big Brett Keisel bats down a pass on the next play. The Jets only get 3 out of the drive. 10-7.

Spaeth stumbles his way to a first down and the two-minute warning. Antonio Cromartie takes a penalty and Matt Spaeth gets featured again. The Steelers are giving him every chance to prove himself in Miller’s absence, and he’s doing his job to make catches. It’d be nice to see him not fall over by himself on every play though.

The Steelers grind out another few first downs. Ben tries to run the Fake Spike (TM) but he’s no Dan Marino.

Man, if you were a Jets fan you’d be pissed if that worked.

Suisham drills the field goal and Jeff Reed breaks his remote throwing it to the floor. 10-10.

With like 30 seconds left, Mark Sanchez runs his hurry up offense, which consists entirely of 4-yard slant routes. With three seconds left, he promptly slings the ball into his own bench as time expires.

“Guys, come on! I’m not trying to fail at clock management!”

HAFLTIME

Steven Tyler looks like a woman who’s been dead for a week.

THIRD QUARTER

The Steelers are getting some pretty generous spots from the officials, I’ll give them that. The Steelers convert another third down as Mike Wallace runs right across the field.

After a bunch of successful runs all day, Mendenhall finally breaks away and gets down to the 3. He runs standing up into the end zone. 17-10. Suisham is running like he’s trying to murder Brad Smith on the kickoff.

Ryan Clark blows up Braylon Edwards after a catch. Penalty for being a Steeler. 15 yards. That wasn’t as bad as the calls from the Oakland game, but it was close. Sanchez bootlegs into the end zone on 4th & 1. 17-17.

Is it weird to think that if Polamalu were playing he’d have stonewalled Sanchez behind the line on that play?

Antonio Brown can’t get anything going on kick returns today. Mike Wallace makes his 50th catch of the game and Flozell Adams gets a penalty for… well, it’s hard to say. Being a Steeler. Punt.

Crezdon Butler gets a free break at the returner when he catches the ball and somehow misses him standing still.

FOURTH QUARTER

Santonio Holmes is making catches all day but the Steelers are doing a good job of keeping him from getting the extra yards that make him so dangerous.

And then my power went out. When it came back, the Steelers were down 20-17.

Roethlisberger fumbles, Adams picks it up and looks like he’s about to throw a pass before Jason Taylor brings him down. Kapinos punts again for like no yards.

The Jets come up to a crucial 3rd & 6. LaDanian Tomlinson takes the snap and gets the first down. Sanchez, determined to be the most mediocre quarterback with a winning record, gets into 3rd & 5. This time Brett Keisel knocks the pass away. Punted to the 2.

2:45 left, at their own goal line and needing a field goal to tie it, Arians calls everyone’s favorite play: a halfback draw on first down. Jason Taylor watched film, saw that coming, and planted Moore in the end zone.

22-17. I don’t want to go find a picture of that play, so here’s Rex Ryan making a face.

The Jets run two plays and then Mundy bats down a pass. They punt back to the Steelers. As usual, the Jets down the punt inside the 10.

Ben takes off himself this time with a big gain on the ground. Three plays later he takes a sack deep in his own backfield. On 3rd & 24, Sanders gets the first down on a catch-and-run. Spiked. Mike Wallace gets back in the game with another first down.

Sanders gets held on his way to the end zone and the ball is just a step ahead of him. No flag. They’ll never get that call, it seems. Antonio Brown took a shot to the head on that drive, too.

Nine seconds left. Ball at the 10. Ben waits too long to hit a wide open Spaeth. Two seconds. Pass is too far out of bounds. Game over.

I champion myself as a defender of officials. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Seriously, do the Steelers ever file complaints with the NFL about this stuff?

I don’t know what Polamalu would have done differently, but you definitely don’t imagine that the Steelers would have lost with him.

Sanders and Spaeth both earned their keep, if you asked me.

The Penguins play the Capitals during the Steeler game on Thursday. Might want to watch that before kickoff to see some more consistent officiating. And I’m talking about hockey here.